2 6 Gullane Drive, Sunbury Vic 3429 email: goonawarra.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au / website: www.goonawarra.vic.edu.au Telephone: 9744 7137 / Fax Number: 9744-7284 No: 0515 Thursday, 5 th March, 2015 Goonawarra is G.R.E.A.T! At Goonawarra we all aim to be - Generous Responsible Enthusiastic Ambitious Trustworthy Register to get your electronic copy of the newsletter via the Document tab on our website. Make our webpage your homepage. Creating, Nurturing & Expanding Learning Opportunities through Quality Education. 9 th March Labour Holiday MON TUES WED THUR FRI SAT SUN 10 th March 11 th March 12 th March 15 th Pupil Free NO SCHOOL Ride to School 13 th March Interschool Athletics School Disco!! 14 th Sunfest Battle of the Choirs. 16 th March School Council Annual General Meeting 6.30pm in staffroom. All welcome! 17 th March Gr 5/6 Fitness program Student Bank 23 rd March 24 th March Student Bank 18 th March Sunbury Downs Sec College to visit. 19 th March 20 th March National Against Bullying & Violence. 25 th March 26 th March 27 th March Easter Parade Prep Gr 2 Draw Easter Raffle. END OF TERM DISMISS AT 2.30PM 21 st 22 nd Holidays! Canteen is Open Wednesdays & Fridays. Uniform Shop is Open Tuesday mornings from 9:00 9:30am. Use a QR Reader on your mobile device to view this Newsletter online. PUPIL FREE DAYS: The next Pupil Free will be on Tuesday 10 th March. This is the day after the Labour long weekend. It is a RDO for the building trade and will give families the option of a four day weekend holiday. The focus of the day for the staff will be developing the curriculum, assessment and general planning. JOSH BULL VISIT: This week we had a visit from the local Member of State Parliament, Josh Bull. Josh, who grew up in Sunbury, was very impressed with all aspects of the school and thoroughly enjoyed meeting students and staff. The Grade 1 s greeted him in Italian and he saw the Grade 2 s being creative with slime from a safe distance! Josh was a former teacher and therefore has a strong connection and passion for promoting education.
At this stage he has accepted my offer to be Principal for a later in the year. Josh is also taking up our cause of Chaplaincy funding with the State Government. HOUSE ATHLETICS Yesterday the Grade 3 6 students had a fun day at the House Athletic Sports at Boardman Reserve. Successful students will go on to represent the school at the Interschool Athletic Sports next Friday 13 th March also at Boardman Reserve. Thank you to the staff and parents who assisted with the setup, running events and packing up at the end of the event. A great team effort! IT S DISCO TIME! A whole school disco will be held in the school gym on Friday 13 th March between 6.00pm 7.30pm. All students are invited to attend and dance the night away! A flyer was sent home this week. The night will only cost $3.00. If students would like to purchase a hot dog it will cost an additional $3.00 - $6.00 in total. There will be free glow in the dark wrist bands plus plenty of water to drink. JUNIOR SCHOOL COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVES: We are pleased to announce that the new Junior School Councillors for 2015 are: Grade 2/3S Grade 3D Grade 3/4B Grade 4C Grade 5/6F Grade 5/6R Grade 5/6PH Grade 5/6 M Tara and Lachlan C Oscar and Monique C Shiawany and Tyrell Nate and Alexa Hollee M and Will Riley and Kelsey Chelsea and Avi Shaneela and Daniel Mrs Milligan and Miss Coakley will be working with the JSC and are looking forward to the year ahead. Congratulations to all of our new representatives! CHAPLAIN UPDATE: As mentioned in last week s Newsletter, we have employed Ben, our Chaplain for the rest of the year. Ben produces an email newsletter about once a month about his work which he sends to interested people. If interested in receiving it, please email Ben on smith.ben.d@edumail.vic.gov.au We are still looking at avenues for fundraising to cover the remaining cost of having a Chaplain for the year. If you know of any businesses, organisations, groups or individuals who also see great value in having a Chaplain specifically working within our school with our families and our children, for the benefit of all, then I am more than willing to discuss it with them. Please contact me at school or via email fairweather.alan.e@edumail.vic.gov.au Thank you for your support of Ben. Any financial assistance will help with the Chaplaincy expenses. Let s make it happen together! SUNBURY CHAPLAINCY COMMITTEE: Within Sunbury there is a group of people who are dedicated to supporting the work of Chaplains in schools. Until now they have been focussing on the secondary school chaplains. Our school has now offered to assist and support this group, thus expanding their coverage as well as having a greater coordination amongst the Chaplains in the area. The Chaplaincy Committee is conducting a Meet the Chaplains dinner at the Goonawarra Golf Club on Monday 23 rd March commencing at 7pm. Ben, our Chaplain and David, the Chaplain at Sunbury Downs Sec College will be speaking about their work. The cost for a two course meal is $30. If you would be interested in this event, please contact our school office to book a place. Please see the notice at the back of the newsletter. STUDENT ABSENCES: In the last week 53 students were late to school 113 students were absent for at least a day. RIDE TO SCHOOL DAY! Next Thursday is our official Ride To School! For the last few years the school has participated in this event. Over 100 students and 30 parents have ridden bikes or scooters to school on these days. Bicycle Network Victoria (BNV) has provided the school with a proper bicycle rack along the synthetic grass fence. This has proven to be very popular. Each month the number of bikes that are ridden to school is recorded on the BNV website. All students across the school and their parents are encouraged to ride to school next Thursday. The Junior School Council will be recording how many bikes, scooters and prams (anything with wheels!) arrives at school on the special day. Be a part of the action! Pedal Power to school! Also on this day we have arranged a display of many styles of bikes for the students and parents to view.
CHECK IN AT OFFICE: If you are visiting the school to assist in a classroom, dropping off lunch, picking up a child, working in the canteen etc you are requested to call into the office and notify them of your presence. They may require you to sign in. WORKING WITH CHILDREN CHECKS: A reminder to all parents who will be assisting around the school, that it is compulsory to have a current Working With Children Check card. This is relevant to anyone working in classrooms or specialist programs, going on excursions and camps, helping in the canteen etc. The free WWCC form is available online at www.justice.vic.gov.au/workingwithchildren PREPS 2016!!! Yes, it is time to begin thinking about next year already! If you or your friends or neighbours have children who will be commencing school next year here are some dates for the calendar Thursday 23 rd April Activity session & BBQ with the Grade 5 students (next year s Prep Buddies). This event is an open and free activity for everyone with Preschool children you do not need to be enrolled at school to attend. Tuesday 5 th & Thursday 7 th May Information Sessions at 9.30am and 7pm on both days (Presentation and Questions followed by a tour of the school). Monday 18 th May EDUCATION WEEK Open Morning across the school as well as school tours. There will be five Transition s during August, September, October, November and December when the children will do activities at school in the areas of Physical Education, Visual Arts, Library and the classroom environment. The dates for these activities will be published following consultation with Sunningdale Preschool. Alan Fairweather Principal fairweather.alan.e@edumail.vic.gov.au Term Dates for 2015: Term 1: 29 th January to 27 th March Term 2: 13 th April to 26 th June Term 3: 13 th July to 18 th September Term 4: 5 th October to 18 th December ONE SKYE COMPETITION: Congratulations to the following children who have an opportunity to place their handprints on the African Children Choir Tour Bus on Monday 13 th April. P-2: Sophie/Ivy 3-4: Monique/Mitchell 5-6: Elissa/Angela CANTEEN ROSTER Friday 6 th March. Heidi Saffrey, Andrew Ouston, Marcelle Miller Wednesday 11t h March. Gwenda Griggs, Leanne Cordova CARPARK IS A NO NO: Despite numerous requests, there are still parents walking their small children through the staff carpark on a regular basis. Please demonstrate to your child responsible traffic behaviour, before it is too late. CAN YOU ASSIST US? There are about six 100mm X 100mm support posts around the external veranda of the school that need replacing due to their poor condition. The veranda would need to be supported each side by acroprops while the old posts are removed and new ones inserted. The school can supply acroprops, posts and bolts. If you can assist with this task please contact the office. ADMENDMENTS S TO STUDENT ENROLMENT INFORMATION FORMS: These forms went home to the eldest child in each family two weeks ago with the newsletter. It would be appreciated if these forms with any changes could be returned to the office NO LATER than Wednesday, 11 th March. BOOK CLUB NEWS A reminder that Scholastic Book Club orders close TOMORROW, Friday 6 th March. Please return payment with order form to the Office. If you have any questions please contact Sue Lavars.
Extend OSHC at Goonawarra Primary School AUTUMN HOLIDAY PROGRAM COMING SOON: Our team have been working hard on the Autumn Holiday Program and bookings will soon be open. We have heaps of fun activities planned that you won t want to miss out on! Be sure to check our website for updates and watch this space East Sunbury Sporting Club On Friday 6 th March there will be a Meet and Greet Night for the Under 8 team at the East Sunbury Football Club, 155 Lancefield Road. Have a kick and run on the ground from 4:30 to 5:30. Information and question time will be from 5:30-6:00. There will also be a sausage sizzle. KISMET PARK PRIMARY SCHOOL TWILIGHT CARTOON FETE FRIDAY MARCH 20 TH 3:30pm 8pm
NEWSLETTER RESPONSE SLIP: As a means of identifying if the Newsletter is read or not and how effective it is in passing on information to families, could you please complete the quick survey below and return it to school. Your name is not required. Thank you. Newsletter Survey The school newsletter is distributed each Thursday. Circle your responses below. When do you read it? EVERY WEEK NOW AND THEN HARDLY EVER If you do read it, do you do so on Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Is the calendar on the front page useful? YES NO Do you find the content of the Newsletter interesting? YES ALWAYS SOMETIMES NO IT S BORING If you do not read it, can you explain why? Describe any changes you would suggest to the Newsletter. Have you used the QR Reader to view the Newsletter online (see front page of the Newsletter). YES NO How often do you look at the school website? EVERY WEEK NOW AND THEN HARDLY EVER How frequently should the Newsletter be published? WEEKLY FORTNIGHTLY MONTHLY